Glenn McGrath took a five-wicket haul as Australia beat Pakistan by 31 runs and clinched the best-of-three limited-overs cricket final series with a match to spare.

Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting and Damien Martyn all scored in the 40s as Australia reached 239 for nine after winning the toss and opting to bat.

McGrath took a catch off Brett Lee's bowling to remove Taufeeq Umar (3) and then removed Kamran Akmal (12), Mohammad Hafeez (6) and Inzamamul Haq (0) to have Pakistan reeling at 38 for four.

Pakistan recovered and, with Abdul Razzaq scoring 43 off 58 balls, was still in with a chance until McGrath struck again.

Razzaq had just swiped McGrath to the boundary and improved Pakistan's equation to 39 runs required off 40 balls when he edged the fast bowler to Gilchrist and made the total 201 for nine.

McGrath bowled Rana Navedul Hasan to end Pakistan's innings in the 46th over and returned 5-27 in 7.4 overs.

Yousuf Youhana top scored for Pakistan, accumulating 51 off 56 balls including five boundaries, to keep the pressure up until he tried to slog Brad Hogg out of the ground and was bowled by a wrong 'un to make the total 97 for six.

Shahid Afridi plundered 31 off 21 balls, including two sixes and a boundary, before he was run out attempting a second run after guiding a Jason Gillespie ball to Lee at third man.

Lee threw to Gilchrist, who whipped off the bails as Afridi approached the crease and the TV umpire gave the decision against Pakistan in the 31st over. Lee made the first breakthrough in the fifth over, having Umar caught at long leg by McGrath with Pakistan's total at 13.

McGrath got his first wicket three balls later when Akmal was caught behind. He struck twice within four balls in the 12th over, having Hafeez caught at short point by Michael Clarke and then trapping skipper Inzamam lbw with an offcutter.

Earlier, Gilchrist belted six boundaries and a six, scoring 40 off 30 balls and sharing a 55-run opening stand with Clarke, who continued with Ponting to lift the total to 118 before Australia lost its second wicket.

Clarke scored 38 off 75 balls and Ponting made 41 off 61. Martyn (43) was out in the 45th over.

Razzaq took two wickets, removing Gilchrist and Martyn, but was taken out of the attack in the 49th over when umpire Rudi Koertzen ruled that the Pakistani allrounder bowled two full-toss deliveries in the over.

Navedul Hasan bowled Brad Hogg (13) and Gillespie (0) with the first and second balls of the final over but was denied a hat trick by McGrath, who got an inside edge down to the boundary on the first ball he faced.

Razzaq returned 2-51, while Afridi had 2-38 and Navedul Hasan had 2-69 off nine.

Australia won the first final by 18 runs at Melbourne on Friday.

Scoreboard

Australia

A. Gilchrist c S. Malik b Abdul Razzaq 40

M. Clarke b Mohammad Hafeez 38

R. Ponting c Inzamam b Shahid Afridi 41

D. Martyn b Abdul Razzaq 43

D. Lehmann b Shahid Afridi 6

S. Katich run out 5

S. Watson c S.Afridi b Rao Iftikhar 21

B. Hogg b Rana Navedul Hasan 13

B. Lee not out 14

J. Gillespie b Rana Navedul Hasan 0

G. McGrath not out 5

Extras (1b, 4lb, 3w, 5nb) 13

Total (9wkts, 50overs) 239

Fall of wkts: 1-55, 2-118, 3-146, 4-156, 5-166, 6-203, 7-207, 8-230, 9-230.

Bowling: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 9-0-69-2 (3nb, 1w), Rao Iftikhar Anjum 10-0-33-1,
Abdul Razzaq 9.5-2-51-2 (2nb), Shahid Afridi 10-0-38-2 (2w),
Mohammad Hafeez 10-0-34-1, Taufeeq Umar 1-0-8-0, Azhar Mahmood 0.1-0-1-0.

Pakistan

Kamran Akmal c Gilchrist b McGrath 12

Taufeeq Umar c McGrath b Lee 3

Mohammad Hafeez c Clarke b McGrath 6

Yousuf Youhana b Hogg 51

Inzamamul Haq lbw b McGrath 0

Shoaib Malik c Katich b Hogg 14

Abdul Razzaq c Gilchrist b McGrath 43

Shahid Afridi run out 31

Azhar Mahmood lbw b Gillespie 13

Rana Navedul Hasan b McGrath 19

Rao Iftikhar Anjum not out 5

Extras (1b, 6w, 2nb) 11

Total (45.4 overs) 208

Fall of wkts: 1-13, 2-17, 3-38, 4-38, 5-74, 6-97, 7-133, 8-153,

Bowling: B. Lee 8-1-31-1 (1nb, 2w), G. McGrath 7.4-0-27-5 (1w),
J. Gillespie 10-0-35-1 (2w), S. Watson 3.5-0-15-0 (1nb),
B. Hogg 10-0-63-2 (1w), D. Lehmann 6.1-0-34-0.

Toss: Australia.

Man-of-the-Match: Glenn McGrath (AUS)

Man-of-the-Series: Brett Lee (AUS)

RESULT: Australia won best-of-three series 2-0

Umpires: Daryl Harper (AUS), Rudi Koertzen (RSA)- Agencies